This invention relates generally to the field of document processing in the financial industry and more particularly to a method and system for online communication between a check sorter and a check processing system.
Within the financial industry, document processing is an important part of the daily management of a business. Document processing systems include sorters for physically handling and retrieving data from checks and other items and data processors for analyzing and storing the retrieved data. The sorters and data processors intercommunicate data and instructions to individually read and process each check.
Conventional check sorters for document processing, such as the IBM 3890 and 3890/XP series of check sorters, are relatively large and expensive machines. Thus, purchasing one of these check sorters may place a great financial strain on a small business or may be unreasonable for a larger business needing to process a relatively small number of checks over the business"" current capacity. Smaller and less expensive check sorters typically cannot communicate with existing data processing systems that are designed to operate in connection with the IBM 3890 and 3890/XP series of check sorters. As a result, the smaller check sorters are not a viable solution in many applications.
Attempts to solve this problem have included customized emulators which allow a specific check sorter, which may be smaller and less expensive, to emulate the IBM 3890 and 3890/XP series of check sorters so that the data processing system may communicate with the specific check sorter. However, these emulators are hardware-specific solutions. Thus, a different emulator must be designed, programmed and proved out for each different type of check sorter. This customization is time-consuming and expensive and is thus not a practical solution.
Both traditional and customized document processing systems typically use LU 6.2 or channel connect standards to connect to and to communicate with a mainframe running the data processor. These types of connections are expensive to configure and maintain and this limits the viability of these systems.
Yet another disadvantage relates to code line data matching. Typical sorters, and typical emulators as well, provide approximately sixteen lines of memory for code line data matching, which may be used to save time when processing a document for a second time. This limited amount of memory allows data to be saved for a relatively small number of documents. In addition, the processor that searches the memory for code line data matches is generally not fast enough to allow the memory to be expanded. If more lines of data were available to be searched, the processor would not have enough time to search the additional lines of data before the amount of time for processing the document had expired.
In accordance with the present invention, a method and system for online communication between a check sorter and a check processing system are provided that substantially eliminate or reduce disadvantages and problems associated with previously developed systems and methods. In particular, a communication engine provides real-time communication between a check sorter and a processing system using a TCP/IP connection.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a system for handling checks is provided that includes a sorter operable to retrieve MICR data from a plurality of checks. An emulator is coupled to the sorter. The emulator is operable to access the MICR data, to generate a process buffer based on the MICR data, and to generate a plurality of feature instructions for each check based on the process buffer. A communication engine is coupled between the emulator and a check processing system. The communication engine is operable to communicate between the emulator and the check processing system in real-time. The check processing system is operable to receive the process buffer from the emulator through the communication engine. The emulator is further operable to communicate the feature instructions to the sorter. The sorter is further operable to process the checks based on the feature instructions.
Technical advantages of the present invention include providing an improved check handling system. In particular, the check sorter and the processing system communicate in real-time over a TCP/IP connection. As a result, costs are reduced, greater interaction between components is provided, and links are easier to configure.
Another technical advantage of the present invention includes an improved code line data matching system. The code line data matching is provided in a personal computer or other similar device. As a result, both the memory available for storing data and the processor speed are substantially increased. Accordingly, data may be saved for thousands of documents, while the increased processor speed allows the increased amount of data to be searched in the time available for processing the check.
Still another technical advantage of the present invention includes providing a dynamic check processing system. In particular, search algorithms, including elements of the algorithms, may be dynamically adjusted during a check processing run based on run time parameters. As a result, accuracy and efficiency are improved.